By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
DR. HORACe Chang, deputy leader of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) for Region Four, is predicting that the departure of party leader Edward Seaga from the JLP will make the party stronger in western Jamaica.
Describing Mr. Seaga's abrupt announcement of his resignation from the party's top job on Tuesday as the 'correct thing to do,' Dr. Chang says that the possibilities now exists that a new JLP leader could pull the party together in the west.
"It is no secret that we have had issues and have different views in the west, some of which has been very strong," Dr. Chang told The Gleaner in an interview yesterday. "The possibilities exist that under a new administration we might be more able to effectively pull together all the different parts of the Labour Party in western Jamaica."
But Edmund Bartlett, former deputy leader for the region, has a different spin on the matter. "The resignation of Mr. Seaga will have no impact on any future stability in the region," he told The Gleaner, while bemoaning the sudden departure of Mr. Seaga as head of the JLP. "If there was any instability, Mr. Seaga was not the cause of it."
Like Dr. Chang, Mr. Bartlett is, however, of the view that it would be the responsibility of whomever is elected to the party's top job to shore up the party's fortunes in the west and put members at ease. "If the process of transition is made to be relatively smooth then certainly the party will recover faster," Mr. Bartlett stated.
Dr. Chang was elected Deputy Leader of the JLP for Area Four, which comprises the parishes of St. James, Westmoreland, Trelawny, St. Elizabeth and Hanover, at the party's 60th annual conference in November last year.
This was after a very vocal, and often bitter campaign between the incumbent Mr. Bartlett and himself. Mr. Bartlett has been described as a 'loyalist' to Mr. Seaga while Dr. Chang, who is also Member of Parliament for St. James North West, is said to belong to the 'reformist' wing of the JLP led by the party's chairman Bruce Golding. Commenting on the timing of Mr. Seaga's announcement, Dr. Chang said that it was unfortunate that the party leader did not have the opportunity to speak to the party on the matter, before it was made public.
"Unfortunately, the announcement was made when we were having one of our controversies and he did not get the proper forum to speak to us as a body," said Dr. Chang.
